Data scientists target 20 million new voters for Trump

The Trump campaign has paid $250,000 to Cambridge Analytica, which has promised to “revolutionise the political landscape”Evan Vucci/Associated Press

Donald Trump plans to use a British company that was part of the Brexit campaign to pinpoint 20 million “persuadable” voters in key battleground states and bombard them with psychologically targeted messages.

The tycoon has presented himself as a presidential candidate who goes on his gut, with little time for expensive experts. However, it has emerged that his campaign paid $250,000 to Cambridge Analytica as the race for the White House tightened last month.

Alexander Nix, 40, who runs it, is an Old Etonian who has promised to “revolutionise the political landscape”.

It is understood that the Trump campaign is consulting with six PhD-level data scientists employed by the company, which offers “psychographic” analysis — a technique it claims allows adverts to be targeted according to…

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